Unskewing the Data Value Chain: A Policy Research Agenda for Equitable Platform Economies

Abstract

This working paper for the project, Unskewing the Data Value Chain, scopes relevant policy issues and questions pertaining to systemic inequities in the global data value chains and frames a multidomain research agenda for inquiry. The paper also informs and steers the project’s recently forged global research network that will contribute to Southern-led as well as Southern-focused scholarship on the issue in the coming months. The first part of this paper discusses the imminent transformations within the economy; the rise of data value chains and the concomitant increase in inequality, emerging governance gaps, and ramifications for the Global South. In the second section, the paper delves into the specific policy challenges to data value chain regulation faced by developing countries. The third and final section attempts a critical stocktaking of current policy trends and presents a transformative research agenda that can help contribute to equitable data value chains.